Tuesday April 28, 2026
NWPB —
It’s been a couple of months since construction crews in the Tri-Cities removed an earthen land bridge that blocked water at the mouth of the Yakima River. Now, people are celebrating the river’s free flow through its delta.
Since at least the 1940s, an earthen causeway connected the Richland shoreline to Bateman Island. It also created poor conditions for migrating salmon. The stagnant water behind the causeway would get too hot, leading to fish die-offs, good breeding habitats for mosquitoes and perfect hangouts for other fish and birds that would eat salmon.
Now, there’s no causeway in sight.
The Yakima River flows freely through its delta and into the Columbia River. This season, biologists expect migrating salmon to fare better here.
“We did it,” said Mike Livingston, to applause at the celebration on Friday. Livingston is with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.